-50%
Solution
Health and safety of employees in workplace is a core area in HR strategies and anchor the manner in which an organisation execute their operations. To support this, CIPD (2024) evidence upto 35.2 million working days ended up being lost to work-linked ill health in years 2022/23. This is with those related to health and safety of the employees accounting for 24 million of these cases. Failure of employers to prioritise on health and safety has directly contributed to wellbeing and management strategies a challenge hence making it to persist. This is evident from the Health and Safety Act 1974 CIPD (2024a) in UK which offers the employers with the ore responsibility of managing their employees, public and different people directly or indirectly impacted by their operations.
Considering Saudi Arabia, the Health and Safety Law is managed by the Labor Law (Royal Decree No. M/51 which was issued on August 2023 (Rivermate, 2024). This is further supported by the Ministerial Resolutions and Decisions provided by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) offering holistic details and information and implementing the different guidelines. The Main Principles of the law include;
Key Employer Roles
One of the main principles of the law is the employers having the core responsibility of managing the employees’ health and safety and guaranteeing them of safe work environment. According to Taheri et al. (2020) safety in working environment is manifested by capacity for identification and assessment of workplace hazards, implementation of control systems for eliminating or minimising risks and making sure workplace achieves the ventilation standards. For Saudi Aramco for instance, as an employer, they meet all the identified standards including facilitating lighting, sanitation measures, controlling noise prevalence and regulating temperatures. Further, since COVID-19 pandemic, part of the legislation included the need for the employers to facilitate their employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In line with the Saudi Arabia law, this is required to be free from any charge in an event it is possible to eliminate entire hazards and offering employees with sufficient information regarding workplace-based hazards and training them on safety in workplace practices. In Saudi Aramco for example, they have initiated approaches for managing fires, evacuation strategies and different emergencies. According to Sijbrandij et al. (2020), a recent finding has been the need for introduction of first aid facilities and trained people as part of improving the employees operations effectively.
Workers’ Rights
In all health and safety laws, a main principle relates to how the employees are supposed to exercise their rights in their workplace. According to niDirect (2024), a core determinant of the appropriateness of the laws is ensuring a holistic control of the employees’ health and safety. This is while being facilitated to cease from working in their workplace with no discipline when there are reasonable issues regarding to their safety and wellbeing. This is the case in the Saudi Arabia Health and Safety Laws which offers the employees with a right of refusing working in an event these pose an imminent and significant danger for health and safety. For example, in Saudi Aramco, to adhere to this principle of the legislation, they ensure that their employees are facilitated with detailed information regarding their workplace hazards and individual protection. This is while at the same time being provided with right for participating in health and safety decision-making by engagement of safety committees and representatives.
Specific Regulations
In Saudi Arabia, different……
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